Roadway safety device



y 26, 1964 E. NEBLETT 3,134,184

ROADWAY SAFETY DEVICE Filed May 28, 1962 INVENTOR. [OWARD MBA: 77

MTTORA/EY United States PatentQ F R'UADWAY SAFETY DEVIQE Edward Neblett, 4440 8th St, Riverside, Calif. Filed May 28, 1962, Ser. No. 198,149 1 Claim. (Cl. 39-5} This invention relates generally to roadway safety devices and more particularly to a new and improved sign and barrier to prevent trafiic from entering one way streets from the wrong direction.

With the rapidly increasing use of freeways and the like throughout the United States, which roads in general have separate and distinct entrances and exits. There have been an increasing number of accidents caused by.

persons mistaking the entering for the exit ramp and finding themselves then in the wrong direct-ion upon the wrong lane of the freeway.

Such occasions have caused many serious accidents and to date, signs and the like posted, have been ineffective due to confusion which can result from drivers being unable to notice signs to the side of the road or even painted flat upon the roadway together with the natural confusion which sometimes results, due to the appearance of a freeway entrance near or actually adjoining a freeway exit.

I have studied this problem and have discovered that thereis one excellent way and only one by utilizing a combination of unique features in a relatively simple mechanism, that there can be assurance of warning an actual stopping of vehicles entering such areas from the wrong direction.

I have devised a method of providing a raised and im- I passable barrier having a sign thereon to face oncoming trafiic in the wrong direction, which barrier is, however, depressable and no barrier to the exit of vehicles traveling in the proper direction.

I recognize that in the past there have been various rubber signs which stand up on the roadway and may be depressed by a vehicle passing over them; there have been signals such as described in patent issued to Blackwelder, No. 1,915,179 and there have been barrier-type developments such as patent issued to Gilman, No. 1,960,376.

Each of these devices, however has failed to accomplish the result desired by my invention by the obvious inability to both signal to oncoming tratfic and at the same time be an absolute barrier in one direction but depressable in the other direction.

Thus it is an important objectof this invention to provide a depressable roadway sign having warning indicia imprinted thereon and depressable in one direction of traffic only.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a barrier to traffic which is capable of being depressed by vehicles traveling in one direction, but not by vehicles traveling in another direction.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention will be clear to those skilled in the art upon reading the following specification in conjunction with the attached drawings, in which;

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of a roadway with a preferred embodiment of this invention therein;

FIGURE 2 is a section to a reduced scale through 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section to an enlarged scale through 3-3 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a detail to an enlarged scale of area indicated generally 4- on FIGURE 1.

It will be clear to those reading this application that this device consists of a generally wedge-shaped element which is hinged at its narrower edge 11 by a hinge 12 to one of the walls 13 of a hold =14 in the pavement.

3,134,184 Patented May 2d, 1964 The front section 15 of the wedge-shaped element is perpendicular to the road surface when in the elevated position indicated and has a forwardly extending lip 16 which rests upon the front wall 17 of the hold in the roadway when the same is depressed as indicated in FIGURE 3.

It will be observed that the hinge 12. is welded upon slotted pins or the like 24}, and that the same is held in the generally forward position upon said slots as indicated in FIGURE 3 by a suitable spring or the like 21.

It will further be observed that the underside of the wedge-shaped element It has a shoulder 22 which can engage in the slot 23 in the wall of the hold in the roadway if the entire element is pushed backward so that the hinge is in its more rearwardly position with relation to its mounting pins.

This particular element of the device will insure that even though thefront wheels of a vehicle might on a hard impact, jump over the unit if coming from the wrong direction, that such impact would force the unit backwards so that the shoulder would enter the slot and that the unit would then be held in this position by means of the catch Ell as indicated in FIGURE 3. This catch being springloaded as illustrated will hold the unit in the locked position until manually released.

Under such circumstance it will be clear that the unit will cause the car to have a second bump or second position to stop when the rear wheels engage the same if traveling in the wrong direction.

A switch or the like 4t) could also be engaged by the rearward travel of the hinge as indicated so as to flash a warning to patrol or other suitable headquarters that a vehicle was approaching in the wrong direction.

It will be clear that on the contrary to a vehicle approaching in the wrong direction a vehicle approaching in the correct direction will depress the unit by running forward over the inclined ramp and depressing it. The action of such a vehicles wheels upon the ramp-like arrangement will be such that the unit will not be shoved backwards as in the previously described instance of a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction and thus, the locking lipwill never come into engagement with its slot.

When a vehicle travels in this direction the unit will be depressed until the lip comes to rest upon the other wall and thus, holds the same in the firm position as a part of the road bed.

It will be observed that a spring or the like is used to maintain the wedge-shaped element in a normally elevated position at all times, except when being depressed by a vehicle traveling in the right direction.

It will further be observed that the front part of this unit which will be apparent to vehicles traveling in the wrong direction may bear suitable words or other warnings such as, Do Not Enter and the like.

The portion of the unit which is visible to traffic traveling in the right direction may also be appropriately labelied such as, Right Turn Only, Stop Ahead, Exit Speed 35 M.P.H., or similar notices to oncoming traific.

While the embodiment of this invention shown and described is fully capable of performing the object and achieving the advantages desired, the said embodiment is shown for purposes of illustration only and it is not my intention to be limited thereby.

I claim:

A barrier for roadways, comprising: A generally wedge shaped platform suitable to be mounted in a roadway, said platform having one edge of relatively broad thickness and relatively uniform thickness and a parallel edge at a distance therefrom with substantially uniform thickness but narrower in thickness than the parallel broad edge heretofore mentioned; a hole in the roadway suitable to accommodate said wedge shaped platform; means normally holding said platform elevated above the surface of said roadway; slideable hinge means fastened to the narrower edge of said wedge shaped platform and fastened to the roadway surface adjacent said hole in said roadway; a lip on the broader edge of said wedge shaped platform, said lip engaging the upper surface of the roadway adjacent said hole in said roadway and opposite the edge of said hole Where said hinge is fastened; means to lock said wedge shaped platform in normally elevated position if struck from the broader side thereof; switch 10 means actuated by force against the broader edge of said wedge shaped platform; and means to allow said wedge shaped platformto depress into said hole in said roadway upon being approached from the narrow edge upon which 5 the hinges are attached.

Rice May 14, 1940 Nampa May 28, 1940 

